Underlying Intentions
by Lucky T. Cloud
Summary: Alright, no matter what you punks say let me tell you that the only reason I chose to accept this job is so that my little sister could be sheltered, fed and safe. Sure I might stare at my boss Nepgear a little too much sometimes. And sure I might just be a little bit too eager to help her out. And... theres something wrong with me isn't there? Takes place post True End of Mk2.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: [Insert catchy 1st chapter title here]

"Alright. So what exactly does this job have me doing? All it said was 'Personal Assistant' and not much else" Lindel walked along the quiet hallways of the Planeptune Basilicom, hiding his nervousness with his usual crass and rude behavior. Right next to him floated the Oracle of Planeptune, Histoire. She spared him a glance but continued down their path, answering his question without looking at him.

"The details of your job are as the title goes. You will be assisting in whatever the CPU and the CPU candidate ask you for. This can go from simple errands to assisting with paperwork" He sighed, shoulders slumping slightly.

"Great, so I'm an errand boy basically? Doesn't seem any different from when we were in ASIC…"He glanced to the side to see his own reflection in the glass windows next to them. He only looked mildly more orderly than he usually did. His hoodie was half closed instead of left open, his shirt was cleaner than normal, his cargo pants ironed out and his boots polished as best as he could. He lifted a loose lock of green hair and looked closely at his own face. Beady "dead fish" eyes, sharper than average teeth and his usual unkempt green mop if hair was finger combed to look at least somewhat proper. All in all, he still looked like shit. So nothing that different from the usual.

"That may be true, but at the very least you aren't working with a terrorist organization anymore." He paused, thinking on that for a second and nodded.

"Fair point. But does that mean their gonna start calling me Underling too?" Histoire gave him a bemused look as they stepped into an elevator. She let it close behind them as they began the trip up the Planeptower.

"Perhaps Neptune might. But Nepgear will likely be more polite about it."

There it is. The CPU candidate of Planeptune. The same girl who, for whatever reason, decided to grant amnesty to him and his sister despite their crimes. The same girl who spared them the fate of being turned into pancakes by the CPU of Lowee after what went down there. They didn't know why she decided to do that. Whether it was out of the goodness of her heart or some other underlying intentions he didn't know. All he cared about now was that he and his sister were safe and fed and all he had to do was be a gopher for the Goddess and Candidate of Planeptune.

He hoped it was going to be as easy as he made it sound in his head.

With a soft ding the elevator came to a stop and they stepped out. Well, Histoire floated out but you get what I mean. He took a second to take in his surroundings. The room was a spacious living area with a connected kitchen and dining room off to the side. To one side of the windows that went from the ceiling all the way to the floor was a glass door that led to a balcony with a view he'd only ever dreamed of seeing as a kid. In the center of the living space was a television surrounded by various game consoles, candy and junk food wrappers, empty bottles and most prominently empty cups of puddding. Sitting on one of the couches in the middle of the mess was the very Goddess of Planeptune herself, Neptune, half asleep with a controller in one hand and a half eaten cup of pudding in the other.

"Is… is this really the Goddess that helped beat the Overlord a couple of weeks ago?" He gave Histoire an incredulous look. She sighed in response, deciding to float over to Neptune to tap her cheeks.

"Neptune. Wake up. We have a visitor"

"Bwah- wha? Huh? Uhhh jush tell Iffy and Compa to come up hereezzzz" She woke for a few seconds, blearily looking around before almost immediately falling back asleep.

'Geez. She's like Sis on a day off' Almost instinctively he moved.

"Neptune! How many times must I tell you that you must set a proper example as a Goddess!" Histoire raised her voice, now attempting to slap Neptune awake to thee chagrin of the petite Goddess, who weakly began trying to bat her away.

_"__Geez some of this stuff is ridiculously pricey. 2,500 credits for some cookies? The fuck?" _He knelt down to pick up a wrapper with a half eaten cookie still left in it. He sighed and began placing them all in a convenient pile separated between recyclables, biodegradables and plastics.

"Honestly, you'd think that after everything that happened you'd take your job more seriously!" Histoire began trying to pull on Neptune's cheek now, her tone as scathing as a Mother scolding her child can be.

_"__How many fucking pudding cups does this girl go through? Theres like 20 of these things so far and I'm not even half-way done!" _He was about a quarter of the way done when he had to start a separate pile purely for empty pudding cups.

"Neptune are you even listening to me? At this rate Planeptune will be run into the ground if you don't at least do some work for once!"

"That or we'll all end up buried neck deep in empty pudding cups. Seriously, theres like 50 of these things near the couch _alone_. How the fuck does she eat it all? Where does it all go?" Suddenly Histoire's attention was drawn to where Lindel was standing. He had the sleeves of his hoodie rolled up to the elbows and was standing there looking very mildly disgusted. Neptune at this point was awake enough to realize that yes they did indeed have a visitor over that wasn't Iffy or Compa.

"Heeeeeeey. Aren't you that Underling guy we beat up a while back?" She woozily raised an accusing finger at him. Still in the process of fully waking up after another all-nighter of gaming.

"Yes, yes I am. Laugh it up all you want. My job is to be a 'Personal Assistant' to you and your little sister. I assume that also means cleaning up after you" He gestured to the rest of the living space around them and noted that despite how quick he was working there was still more than half of the room littered with trash. Neptune looked around, lucid enough to see things clearly now, and chuckled weakly. Histoire meanwhile looked impressed.

"My, I didn't expect you to be so industrious!" She floated up next to him as she surveyed how much he'd cleaned up while she was scolding Neptune. He shrugged.

"My sis is an absolute mess when she's left alone for too long. So as the twin who got all the smarts I ended up being the one to clean up after her all the time" He crossed his arms smugly as he fondly recalled all the times he'd had to clean up after his little sister, Linda. The memories quickly turned sour, just like his expression, as he remembered them with more annoyance than fondness now.

"Yeah... _all the time..._" Histoire gave him a look of concern at the sudden shift in his expression. He noticed her looking and shrugged.

"It's nothing, just remembering some of the more… rough… parts of our lives" At this point Neptune was now fully awake and standing up stretched her arms over her head. With a mighty sigh of contentment she stretched her arms over her head and then let them go slack to swing at her sides.

"Soooooo... Whats Industrial doing here? Is he the new cleaning lady or something?"

"Hey! I already told you I'm a 'Personal Assistant', not a cleaning lady! And who the fuck is Industrial!? It's Lindel!" Neptune waved a hand dismissively in his direction.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Kestrel"

"_What the fuck even-_"

"Neptune, thats very rude. You shouldn't mispronounce people's names like that. It's very upsetting for LintBell" He shot Histoire an incredulous look of betrayal.

"_What the fu- _I thought that at least **you** would get it right! Your the Oracle for crying out loud!"

"Goodness! Whats with all the noise?"

Coming in through a door next to the dining area was the CPU Candidate of Planeptune, wearing her usual attire sans the shoes with fuzzy slippers in their place. She was carrying a tray of what I assume to be breakfast fit for herself, Histoire and Neptune.

"Oh! It's you Mister Lindwell! I'm glad that you came here!" She placed the tray on a table next to her and made her way over to them. She stopped before Lindel, smiling up at him with her hands held behind her back. It was a sight that gave him pause. He'd seen her before plenty of times now. But each and every time he did she'd always caught his attention in a way that made him pause and stare at her for way longer than he was comfortable with. He shook his head, putting a mildly frustrated look on his face to try and stave off the blush threatening to appear.

"How can you people keep getting my name wrong so consistently?" Neptune once again waved a hand dismissively.

"Ah you'll get used to it. It's the running gag for your character now and theres nothing you can really do about it" He was going to respond to that when he was interrupted by Histoire coughing lightly into her hand.

"I believe that we should discuss the details of your employment now that Nepgear is here as well" She gestured to the dining area. Lindel in turn pointed at the piles of garbage he'd yet to finish sorting.

"But I'm nowhere near done with this shit yet"

"You can finish cleaning it up afterwards" With that Histoire began floating towards the table, Neptune and Nepgear following behind her. He just sighed and followed them after a short pause.

As they all sat down at the table Nepgear began passing around plates and mugs from the tray. They even had a book-fairy sized plate with similarly sized cutlery for Histoire to use. He was surprised when Nepgear passed him a mug of hot coffee as well.

"Wait- this is for me? why?"

"Well it'd be rude not to at least have drinks and snacks for your guests wouldn't it?" He eyed the mug with some suspicion as he picked it up.

"Are you sure? Aren't you like my bosses now? Cause it wasn't like this before. Not even at the part-time jobs I worked before we were in ASIC. Not that I mind that is..." He blew away the steam coming from the coffee and brought it to his lips to take a sip of it. "Hmm... this is some high quality stuff. You guys have it good here"

"And you will as well once you and your sister finish moving in" Histoire held up a tiny slice of pancake on her tiny little fork as she said that. Nepgear nodded in agreement.

"Yup! And you don't need to worry about things like that! According to the records we pulled up on you two all the places you used to work at were kinda... disreputable?" He raised an eyebrow at that.

"Disreputable? How so?" Histoire pulled out some documents from somewhere within her tome. Unfortunately they were not fairy sized so she was almost completely hidden behind them as she read out his past workplaces. "Well the computer cafe you worked at was secretly a game smuggling den. The pizza place you did part-time work at was secretly a drug lab. The... Butler Cafe?" He choked on his coffee while she peeked her head over the side of the papers as she held them off to her side as best as she could. Neptune let out an "Oh my~" and Nepgear let out her own "Goodness..." at the same time.

"It was one time alright!? We were really low on money and getting desperate. And at least I got out of there after I realized what the 'special' menu was about" He placed his mug down so he didn't spill any coffee during his tirade. Histoire nodded sagely and somehow managed to stuff the documents back into her book.

"Either way. We assure you that you don't need to worry about mistreatment of that kind while you work here. Isn't that right Neptune?" She gave Neptune a look towards the end, giving her a stink eye. Unfortunately Neptune seemed to have stopped paying attention at some point.

"What? Oh! Histy! Whatever could you be looking at me like that for?" She raised a hand to her chest, voice laced with a teasing tone of mock hurt. Histoire continued to give her the stink eye for a few more seconds, making her break out into a cold swear, before sighing and looking back at Lindel.

"Again, you don't need to worry... too much... that is..." She glanced back at Neptune, who was exaggeratedly wiping the sweat off her brow when she thought Histoire wasn't looking. He gave them all a skeptical look. Histoire looked calm, Nepgear looked apprehensive for some reason, and Neptune was oddly excited looking?

"Yeah... _suuuuuuure_..." He sighed, stared back down at his mug of coffee and decided to chug down what was left of it. With a sigh he placed it back down on the table and pushed it to the side while he wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Alright. Not like I have much of a choice here anyway. What've I gotta do now?" Nepgear breathed a sigh of relief, Histoire nodded and Neptune gave a small cheer at his response.

"Hooray! Now we get our own personal servant! I wonder what kind of steamy developments happen now that theres a someone with a Y chromosome added to the cast?"

"S-Sis! Don't be so rude!"

"I'm glad that you accepted Lintbell. If you'd like you can start tomorrow so you and your sister can get settled in" He shook his head.

"Nah. I already kinda started with picking up all that trash earlier so I might as well keep going. Besides, Sis can handle moving our stuff in. She's a big girl. _Not like we had much stuff left anyway..._" He looked off to the side, looking just a bit put off, before he shook his head again and stood up.

"Alright. What do you need me to do today?" Histoire was about to say something when Neptune almost knocked her over and leaned over the table with a hand raised.

"Oh! Oh! I know! How about you get me some puddi-" Histoire cut her off before she could even finish her sentence. Flying up and shoving her out of the way.

"Actually! Neptune has quite a bit of paperwork that she needs to do. **Today**. And it would be nice if you could help her with it. After you finish cleaning up her mess in the living room that is" She kept a hold of Neptune's cheek and began dragging her out of the room and towards one of the doors.

"After you are done then please just catch up with us in Neptune's office. Once again, thank you for accepting Lintbell" With a small one handed curtsy while she still pinched Neptune's cheek with the other hand she left the room. Leaving only Lindel and Nepgear alone at the table.

To say the atmosphere was awkward was an understatement. Here he was standing with the girl who had pretty much saved his and his sister's life. Despite the fact that before then he and his sister were part of the faction that was actively working against her and even nearly got her killed several times. He wanted to express his thanks for not only saving their lives despite that but also giving them a second chance. One where he even works pretty much directly with them at that. But he couldn't really find the words. He was too busy staring at her again.

She was standing by the table as well, fidgeting in place, she seemed to be in deep thought too. Looking nervous and timid and oddly cute and every second he continued staring at her he felt a strange heat come up to his cheeks that he couldn't quite find a reason for. Hurriedly he turned away, trying to hide his blush, and spoke to try and break the tension.

"So uh... thanks for saving our asses back there..."

"Huh?" She seemed to snap out of whatever train of thought she was having to pay attention to him. The way she curiously tilted her head at him stunned him for a fraction of a second but he kept going.

"I mean... you really didn't need to do that you know? We were your enemies. We fought you on more than a few occasions. Heck we even used some of your friends against you! Why'd you do it?" His question stumped her for a bit, catching her off guard for a second. She looked down in contemplation for a second. Then she looked back at him with a strangely focused gaze.

"Because even though you were against us. You never really wanted to fight against us didn't you? You were always looking out for your sister" Lindel was taken aback for a second. Surprised that she'd been able to figure that out despite the chaotic nature of the events before. She looked away, a downcast look on her face.

"Seeing that... reminded me of how much I cared about my own sister. I know that she's my older sister and all. But the feeling remains the same..." She looked back at him again, a resolute look of determination in her eyes.

"Thats why I helped you two. Because I didn't want to see someone who just wanted to protect their family left to fend for themselves" She finished her answer with a clenched fist held in front of her chest. Lindel was once again taken aback. Never before in their lives had anyone shown him or his sister as much kindness as this girl had. They'd always had to survive with nobody but each other to rely on. And then here they were, sitting pretty much in the lap of luxury with a job and a place to stay. Thanks to someone who by all means should hate them for the things they'd done. He chuckled morosely.

"Theres gotta be a catch to this right? Being your personal gopher aside, what else do you have planned? Gonna use us for something?" Nepgear frowned, shaking her head.

"Of course not. Aside from doing some errands for us theres nothing else to it"

"Really? Nothing else?"

"Nope"

"No punishment you want to inflict upon us?"

"Nu uh"

"No shady back alley deals?"

"Of course not!"

"No weird fetish you want us to take part of" He gave her a sly smile. At this she blushed brightly and shook her head vigorously.

"Goodness no!" With each response he scanned her face, trying to look for even the slightest hint that she was lying somehow. He was surprised that he couldn't. She was being completely honest and genuine with him. He sighed, dropping the smile and scratching the back of his head.

"Well... you were a pretty shit liar back then too. So I guess I can take your word for it" Her face lit up with a smile bright enough to light up the room. It was bright enough that he actually had to shield his face from it with one arm.

"Really!?"

"Yeah yeah sure. Now go. Do whatever it is you usually do. I gotta clean up this mess your sister left behind and go help them with that paperwork" She smiled at him again, nodding.

"Okay! We promise we'll take good care of you and your sister Mister Lindwell!" She turned around to leave, waving back at him. "Goodbye! See you tomorrow then!"

"Ugh. I guess Lindwell is close enough. And stop calling me Mister! It makes me sound way older than I am!" He called out to her as she left. He sighed again, looking back at the mess that'd been left at the living room. He rolled up his sleeves once more and set about getting things cleaned up.

"Alright. This should be easy"

* * *

_Several hours later..._

"Aaaand that should be about it. Huh. He was right, I did handle that pretty well"

Linda looked around their new room. It was far bigger than any of the crummy studio apartments they'd rented out in the past. It was a fairly large apartment with a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, 2 bedrooms and an extra room they could do whatever they wanted with. It was also situated close to the floor that the Goddess lived on so they still had a magnificent view outside the windows. She put her hands on her hips, proud of finally unpacking what few belongings they had and doing some minor decorating to the bedroom she'd claimed as hers. She stared out of at the balcony overlooking Planeptune, seeing the sun set in the distance and bathing the futuristic landscape of Planeptune in a warm orange glow. This was something she and her brother had only ever dreamed of having as kids.

"Now, I wonder when that brother of mine is going to get back. Sure hope those crazy broads didn't make him do anything crazy..." Despite multiple assurances from the book fairy that escorted them here she was about as concerned as her brother was. This was just too good to be true. Free lodgings and food as well as a well-paying job? There had to be a catch. Suddenly the door opened and in stepped Lindel, tiredly dragging his feet towards the couch where he unceremoniously fell over it in a huff.

"Hey, your back! So how'd it go?" She made her way out of her room and into the living room. Lindel had kicked off his boots and was now trying to melt himself into the couch. Admittedly she could understand. The couch was comfy enough to be used as a bed on its own. But she was still concerned about why he seemed so tired. His response to her was muffled by the pillow he was shoving his face into.

"I'm sorry what?" He pulled his face away from the pillow to look at her tiredly.

"Fuck. Paperwork" Then he let his face fall into the pillow again. Linda laughed at the answer and plopped herself down on the couch as well, avoiding sitting on her brothers back.

"Really? That's what's got you so tired? Didn't you do a crap ton of that stuff back when we were in ASIC?" He sighed into the pillow he was holding and rolled over so he was facing up. He had the look of a man haunted.

"You don't understand sis. I did a crap ton back at ASIC sure but here? There was an absolute **fuck ton** of it. Like- There was a stack that went all the way up to the fuckin' ceiling for crying out loud!" Linda's eyes widened in shock.

"No way"

"Oh yes fucking way. Look at my hand! My poor poor writing hand..." He cradled his right hand tenderly in a mock expression of hurt. Linda laughed and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Man up you wuss! Its just a little bit of paperwork! Besides, we got this sweet ass new place to relax in!" She gestured to their surroundings, smiling widely. Even as tired as he was Lindel couldn't help but smile as well. He sat up on the couch to look around, not able to look it over earlier due to Histoire bringing him up to meet Neptune and Nepgear.

"Yeah... it is pretty sweet..." He stretched his arms out in front of him and swung his leg off the couch to stand up.

"Alright! I still feel kinda tired but I think I can cook us up something to eat before I fall dead asleep. What do you want for dinner?" Linda brought a finger up to her chin in thought, humming.

"Hmmm. I think I saw some pork in the freezer earlier" He brought his fists together in determination.

"Pork you say? Alright! We're having Pork Tonkatsu tonight! Extra large servings!" He marched off to the kitchen like a man on a mission while Linda let out a whoop.

"Woohoo! Pork! It's been ages since we last ate some meat!"

"Tonight! We FEEEEAAAAAST!"

It was a good night for the underling siblings. The first of many in their new lives.

* * *

**A/N: Edited some things. Changed some things. Made things more understandable. Made things look nicer. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Aight so apparently the artist for the art you see as the story image noticed my stuff and first of all I'd like to say HOLYSHITTHISISSOCOOLOHMYGODPEOPLELIKETHIS and thats my short little freakout over. Second of all I'm really happy that he likes this and if your reading this now dude well uhhh Hi! I hope you enjoy this! Seeing that particular piece of yours was an unexpected but very much pleasant surprise!**

**Anywho. On to the show!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Never an easy job

_"You sure this is a good idea Sis?"__ The Underling siblings were walking down an alleyway in one of the shadier districts of Planeptune. Bright and shining example of technological advancement it may be Planeptune had its own seedy underbelly just like any__ big city. "I know you want to help and all but you didn't need to go that far" Lindel said as his eyes flickered around the alley, checking every corner, dumpster, garbage can or possible hiding place in case of someone jumping out to mug them. He was fairly confident that they could both take on one or two thugs but he wasn't taking any chances. Linda waved her hand in the air in front of her. Not minding the shady atmosphere of the alley at the moment._

_"Ahh its fine Bro! You've been working so hard and its making me feel bad that I haven't been able to do shit to help out with the rent and stuff" She flashed him a toothy grin full of confidence as they walked, leaning forward to look at him more. "So I went and got us both a job here! Trust me, it might be a bit shady but the pay is definitely worth it. We could pay rent for months ahead and still have enough for a weeks worth of groceries!" Lindel hummed at that notion, enough money to pay rent for a few months and still have enough for a weeks worth of groceries? Well it sure as hell beat getting kicked out and starving. He sighed._

_"Alright, that actually sounds pretty good. I'll trust you on this one Sis" Linda gave a small cheer and pumped her fist._

_"You won't regret this Bro. Trust me" With that, silence reigned for awhile as Linda guided them to their destination. _

_"Say… Sis? Who exactly are these guys your telling me about?" They turned a corner to be greeted by a courtyard where various people were gathered and a building sized robot was somehow remaining just low enough to remain below the rooftops around him. He was multi-colored, lion themed and honestly looked like something out of a childrens cartoon to Lindel. He was handing out pamphlets with surprising dexterity and speaking in an equally surprisingly handsome voice. Linda turned around, cheeky smile in place._

_"They call themselves ASIC!"_

* * *

Lindel awoke from his slumber to an unfamiliar ceiling. He blinked away the remnants of sleep as he yawned and sat up, trying to reorient himself. "Huh. The heck was that dream about?" He scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out why he'd dreamt of when they first joined ASIC and whether it was some kind of prophetic omen of times to come. Then he shrugged, swung his feet off the bed and got up, deciding not to think about it and instead think about what could be in store for his second day at his new job. 'Shouldn't be that bad' He thought as he made his way to the shower connected to his room, a luxury he was still getting used to, to get ready for the day.

'Right?'

"I shouldn't have opened my Goddesses damned mouth" He dodged out of the way of a Dogoo shooting at him like it was launched out of a cannon. "Just a small dogoo pack they said" He brought up his crowbar and slammed it down on another dogoo that came right at him. It smashed into the ground and stayed there but didn't die so he brought up his boot and started stomping on it. "Should be. Easy. They! SAID!" He slammed his boot down one final time, dispersing the dogoo in a splash of blue goop and data. He lifted his boot back up and to his disgust there was still goop left on it. "That's gonna be a bitch to clean later…"

"Mister Lindwell look out!" He turned around just in time to take a face full of dogoo. It didn't knock him over and instead of bouncing off it stuck to his face. He stumbled around, screaming, ripping and tearing at the dogoo stuck to his head and slowly trying to wrap itself around it. Nepgear parried another dogoo bullet and ran over. She brought her sword up and with a shout split the dogoo on Lindel's face clean in half. It came apart in two gooey slices and Lindel gulped down air the moment his face was free.

"Fucking hell! What did they say these things were fucking high on!?" He picked up his crowbar and with the sharper end caught a dogoo bullet mid-flight. It carried him along a short distance before he heaved it over his head and into the ground where he gave it the same treatment as the last one.

"They said that they managed to get into a shipment of a new flavor of Nepbull!" She grunted as she blocked another dogoo bullet and flung it into the path of another dogoo bullet. They collided and slammed into a tree. She gave out a mighty cry and sent a wave of energy erupting from the ground at the pair stuck to the tree.

**[SLASH WAVE]**

The dogoos and the tree they were stuck to exploded in a shower of data, blue goop and wooden debris. She gave a pump of her fist and a short cheer before Lindel was suddenly in front of her and bringing his crowbar up with a swing and knocking another dogoo bullet skywards.

"The fuck was in that shit that made them like that?" Suddenly the dogoo that he sent skywards slammed back into the ground right beside him. He gave it the same treatment he did the other two dogoos he'd slammed into the ground. By this point his boots were somewhat caked in dogoo goop. Once again, he lamented over having to wash this all off later. "Seriously, aren't dogoo's supposed to be really slow and stupid and shit? Not shooting around like their going at the speed of sound!?" He ducked under another dogoo bullet as it passed by overhead. By this point they had cut through half of the pack but that still left 5 of them out of the original 20 or so dogoos.

"I don't know? They said they were experimenting with some new chilidog flavored Nepbull specifically for adventurers that was supposed to give a minor speed boost to the drinker" She dodged under another dogoo bullet, slashing it as it passed and sending it careening into another tree. This time Lindel dealt with it by rearing his arm back and throwing his crowbar in an arc. It flew, spinning around and in a curving flight path to hit the tree the dogoo was stuck to and shearing clean through both before flying back and into Lindel's awaiting hand.

**[CROW-MERANG]**

"You call this a minor speed boost!?" He grabbed her by the shoulder and brought her down so they both ducked out of the way of the path of two dogoo bullets shooting past them. "Cause if this is a fucking minor speed boost then I need to get some of this shit for myself!" They saw the pair of dogoos bouncing off some trees ahead and heading straight for them. They dodged in different directions, Lindel to the left and Nepgear to the right, before Lindel fell into a crouch and began rearing his arm back for another throw when a dogoo bullet slammed into his side. It didn't stick this time, instead bouncing off and knocking him sideways into a tree. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs and his head hitting the tree first made his vision waver. He leaned back on the tree, putting a hand on his head to try and steady his vision. "Motherfucker that hurt…"

"Mister Lindwell!" Nepgear slid to a stop in front of him to parry a dogoo bullet about to hit Lindel. He braced an arm against the tree behind him and shakily got to his feet, slipping slightly from the goop still on his boots. "Are you alright!?" She shouted over her shoulder, trying to keep an eye on the blue blurs bouncing off the trees around them. Lindel groaned, pulled out a potion and chugged it down one gulp, then stood up a little steadier.

"Yeah, just fucking PEACHY!" He threw the empty potion bottle in his hands at a dogoo bullet heading straight for them. It only slowed it down for a second but a second was all Nepgear needed to slice it in half before it reached them. Nepgear gave a short cheer and turned to Lindel.

"Only three left! We can do this!" Lindel shook his head off again to try and get rid of the waviness in his vision. It worked just in time for him to see a dogoo bullet much larger than normal heading straight for her. Acting on instinct he jumped at her and tackled her to the ground.

"Get down!" They hit the ground just as the blue blur smashed _through_ the tree he was leaning on just seconds ago. He could feel splinters and fragments of wood from the tree pattering against his back as he covered Nepgear from the worst of it. "Shit. That thing was bigger than the others were. Where the hell did it come from!?" He stayed on the ground, pivoting his head left and right, too busy with trying to find where it had shot off to notice Nepgear blushing underneath him. "You alright?" He addressed her, looking her over as best as he could to see if she was hurt. She blushed even more at this and this caused him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Y-Yes! Yes I am!" It was only then that he noticed exactly the position they were in. He blushed, pushed himself off of her and got into a crouch.

"S-Sorry about that. Anyway, we still need to find wherever that thing went" He scanned the forest, both because he wanted to see where the large dogoo bullet had gone and to avoid looking at Nepgear out of embarrassment.

"Y-yeah, we do. Should we go after it?" She stood back up herself. Dusting off dirt from her dress and scanning for their target as well. Lindel nodded.

"Not like we have many options anyway. It went this way, come on" He stood up from his crouch and began walking in the direction the dogoo had shot off, Nepgear following closely behind him.

For awhile there was nothing but the sound of nature, the dirt crunching under their boots and the goop under Lindel's boots between them. There was some awkward silence, both of them split between trying to avoid thinking of what just happened and trying to look for their target as they followed what looked like a trail of destruction left in the wake of the large dogoo bullet's passing. Lindel finally broke it when he whistled at a large dogoo bullet shaped hole punched clean through a relatively large tree, in awe of the sheer damage it'd done to it.

"Damn, wouldn't wanna get hit by that thing. Do you have any idea why it's larger than the others?" This seemed to snap Nepgear out of her own deep thoughts. She hummed.

"Maybe the last three combined into one larger dogoo?" Lindel nodded, then his face scrunched up in thought.

"Wouldn't they be slower now though? They got bigger so you'd think they'd go at least a little slower than that" Nepgear nodded, face scrunching up in thought as well.

"Well I suppose so. But it's more likely that when they combined their stats ended up getting combined as well. So this means this might be an enemy on the level of a boss we're going to be fighting" Nepgear hummed at the end, looking just a tiny bit worried, then sighed. "I didn't think that a quest like this would turn out to be so troublesome. Sorry Mister Lindwell" She looked down, feeling saddened. It was just supposed to be a routine quest of clearing out some monsters. Then things just took a turn for the worse. Seeing her looking sad made something in Lindel's chest twist up and made him feel bad for her. Before he could stop himself he was putting a hand on her head and affectionately ruffling her hair. He could feel his cheeks heating up but spoke anyway.

"Hey, don't be so down about it. Just cause things didn't turn out the way you wanted them too doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Buck up! We can handle this!" He gave her a sidelong grin after he willed away his blush. Her eyes widened slightly and her own blush grew darker. "Besides, with a CPU Candidate backing me up I feel like I could take on a Dragon!" They stayed there for a while, him affectionately patting her head and her standing there not sure about the feelings she felt beyond being strangely comforted by the action.

Then their little moment was interrupted by a scream and a loud, cute, fairly dogoo-ish sounding roar.

"Come on!" Lindel lead the way, running as quick as he could between through the forest towards the source of the scream, Nepgear keeping pace right beside him. They eventually broke through the tree line and came to a clearing where some people seemed to have been having a picnic. Now it was thoroughly ruined by the large dogoo bullet which had somehow physically changed in appearance since it had attacked them. That or it had changed in appearance when it had been created from the merging of three dogoo bullets and it was just going too fast for them to tell. Either way, it was an ugly thing to look at.

It was hunched over, its form now somewhat more rotund and just vaguely humanoid in appearance. It had grown misshapen arms and legs and was clutching some food in its hands as it turned around to face them, its dogoo face still stuck in that disturbing soulless gaze that unnerved Lindel every time he'd looked at a dogoo for too long. A slit of flesh below its "mouth" opened up, revealing teeth still growing in a random arrangement along its jaws.

**"GoTTa gO fAyST!"**

It was an abomination. It needed to die now and as Lindel caught Nepgear's gaze he could see that she shared the same sentiment. With a nod he readied his crowbar, baring his teeth in a threatening manner. "Oh your gonna go fast alright, straight to the fucking grave asshole!" It laughed a demented and gooey laugh before it dropped the food in its hands and curled up into a ball, spinning in place before suddenly shooting straight at them. Lindel and Nepgear dodged out of the way, Nepgear sliding to a stop to the left and Lindel rolling to a crouch on the right. He reached into the inside of his hoodie and his hand came away with three throwing knives clutched between his fingers. He threw them at the abominable creature as it skidded to a stop, still in ball form, near the tree line. The knives bit deep and caused it to crash into one of the trees instead of fully stopping like it intended. It uncurled itself, standing up with difficulty as the knives were laced with a minor paralysis toxin.

**[Trick Knives: Paralysis]**

He pulled out a few more knives from his hoodie with both hands this time, these ones with a different more serrated design to the blades. He reared his hands back and with a grunt threw them all at the monster. The knives that hit stabbed deep and the ones that grazed it cut long serrated gashes alongside its body.

**[Fan of Knives] **

Nepgear took a stance from where she stood, bringing her sword up in front of her diagonally with the blade pointed to the ground before crouching and dashing towards the monster with a shout. "**[Panzer Blade!]**" She slammed her blade down on its head hard, cleaving the monster and the ground beneath it. She reared her sword back for another sideways slash and kept on hitting it another two times, sweeping the monster around with each swing of her blade like a ragdoll, then brought it back for one final slash as she dashed straight through the monster. It gave a cry of pain from its injuries and fell to the ground on its hands and knees. Nepgear turned around and began running at it with her sword ready at the same time as Lindel did the same with his own crowbar and some more knives in his other hand ready.

He tossed them at the monsters hands and feet, pinning it to the ground and grabbing his crowbar with both hands to bring it up in a monstrous uppercut as he got close that sent the monster flying, flipping backwards into the air. Nepgear stopped in her run and crouched before springing up into the air above the monster, her blade held aloft and ready to come down on the abomination. With a great cry she brought her blade down on the monster and sliced it clean in half, landing gracefully on the ground beside Lindel.

Unfortunately whatever grace her landing had was ruined by the rain of goop from the monsters still dissipating corpse, and unlike the main body though the goop remained, caking both of them in the sticky, slimy substance. Lindel gagged and shielded his face as best as he could from it the majority of the stuff. "Well, at least the fuckin' thing is dead now. Hey Nepgear you oka-" Whatever he was about to say got caught up in his throat as his eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his head when he caught sight of Nepgear.

"Uuuuh, this is going to take forever to wash off…" She pulled at some of the stuff stuck in her hair as she tried to wipe off some of the goop that got on her cheek. In all honesty it looked like something straight out of an R-18 video game to Lindel. She dabbed at some of the gunk stuck to her cheek, pulling away and leaving a bridge of it connected to her finger. He coughed and sputtered, further reminded of the content of some not quite safe for work games he'd helped smuggle in the past, and looked away to hide his blush from her for the nth time today.

"U-Uhhh Nepgear? Y-you might want to uhh… wipe some of that stuff off…" He reached into his hoodie and pulled out a handkerchief. She perked up, smiling as she accepted it and began wiping some of the goo off her cheeks with some thorough scrubbing.

"Thank you Mister Lindwell!" Lindel sighed, trying to calm himself down as he turned to address the people that the thing had attacked. There was a family of four and a young couple sitting by the picnic table in the clearing.

"Hey, you people alright?" The young couple was still in shock but shook it off after a second. The boy answered first.

"Y-yeah. Thank you! You saved our lives back there!" The girl next to him nodded vigorously. An older man who was sitting next to an older woman got up from his seat and walked over to them. He grasped Lindel's hand and began shaking it, uncaring for the leftover dogoo still stuck on it. Not expecting this Lindel could only shake his hand in turn.

"I can't thank you enough for saving my family. If it weren't for you and Lady Nepgear over there then who knows what could have happened to us" Lindel was in slight shock, not entirely sure how to react to honest thanks being expressed to him. Something he supposed he might have to get used to with this new job of his. The man let go of his hand and Lindel stepped back to scratch the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ahh don't mention it. It's part of the job I guess." He looked back at Nepgear, seeing that she had wiped off as much as she could with the little handkerchief he'd given her. She handed it back to him shyly with it pinched between her fingers.

"Sorry Mister Lindwell, I kind of ruined your handkerchief" He accepted it back with a sigh and muttered about adding more to the list of laundry to do. While he rooted around in his hoodie for something to contain the ruined cloth Nepgear turned to the civilians and bowed. "We're sorry for not taking care of the monster before it attacked you all. I hope that no one was harmed" The people replied by shaking their heads and telling her that aside from being shocked by the sudden appearance of the monster no one was harmed. She smiled, happy about that, and turned to Lindel, who had somehow procured a small plastic bag to shove his handkerchief into. "Let's go back and report to Histy that we finished the quest!" Lindel nodded and Nepgear took a step forward, hearing a fleshy squelch as the goop underneath her boots hit the ground. "…After we clean ourselves up that is…"

* * *

The people of Planeptune were witness to a rather odd pair walking through their streets that day. Though they only paid attention for a moment before going about their daily lives, more or less used to the odd shenanigans that their CPU and Candidate got up to with their various friends and associates. So the sight of Nepgear walking down the streets of Planeptune, bits and pieces of blue gunk still stuck to her clothes and hair, while her companion trailed behind her in the same miserable state was added to the ever growing list of odd sights that the denizens of the nation had witnessed in the past.

"Exactly where are we going again?" Lindel asked as he stepped as lightly as he could, trying not to leave too much of a mess for whatever poor fool had to clean the streets they'd just passed. By this point the amount of slimey gore stuck to his boots was much more manageable and didn't almost make him trip every couple of steps, but it made him feel just a smidge bad when he thought of the mess that they'd left behind as they walked. Nepgear gave him a smile over her shoulder.

"We're heading to a friend's place! She can lend us her shower so we can at least wash ourselves off before we head back to the Basilicom to change" With that she kept quiet as they headed to their destination. Finding nothing else to talk or ask about Lindel decided to keep quiet as well and shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as they walked.

It didn't take long before they'd finally arrived at their destination. A rather homely looking place that, while still standard fare for Planeptune architectural design, looked cozy even from the outside. Nepgear stepped up to the door and knocked. From the inside a familiar voice called out and footsteps approached the door. Then it was opened to reveal a face that Lindel had nightmares of, nightmares of cute angels of death cheerfully smiling down at him as he suffocated, unable to move his body or struggle in the slightest despite his best efforts.

"Ge-Ge! It's so nice to see you! Did you need something? And why are you covered in that icky looking stuff?" Compa flung the door wide open as she cheerfully greeted Nepgear with a smile, though her expression turned to confusion as she observed the state she was in. Then she caught sight of Lindel and she smiled again. "Mister Lintworm! It's nice to see you too! Does this mean that you accepted Ge-Ge's job offer?" Lindel felt himself break out into a cold sweat and tried to hide his fear as best as he could, scratching at the back of his head.

"U-uh yeah! Yep, yes I did in fact do that..." He looked around, gauging whether he'd be able to find an escape route that lead to the Basilicom so he could avoid being in the presence of the nightmare nurse. Compa smiled, clapping her hands together with a happy noise, not at all noticing the obvious fear he was displaying.

"That's great! I should make you and your sister some pudding to celebrate! Oh! Where are my manners. Come in, come in!" She grabbed them both by a hand each, gently pulling them in. Though Nepgear simply smiled at this Lindel felt his blood run cold and mentally wrote down his last will and testament.

"Compa? Who was at the door?" Oh. Great. Fantastic. If his chances of escape were low enough before they were practically zero now. While he was capable of taking on a pack of high speed dogoos he also knew he would've been toast if it weren't for Nepgear watching his back. Now he was in the presence of one of the strongest adventurers in The Guild, the very same one he'd had to fight and get brutally beaten by in the past. He gulped as they entered the connected living room and dining area, averting his gaze from IF's when she caught sight of him and Nepgear, narrowing her eyes when they landed on him. "Oh, it's Nepgear… and you…" IF continued tapping away at her phone as she observed them, noticing the state of their clothes and the gunk still stuck to them. She flipped her phone shut and hummed suspiciously. "What exactly were you two doing that got you like that anyway?" Lindel gulped, Nepgear chuckled nervously to try and break the obvious tension growing between Lindel and IF.

"We were out on a quest to fight some dogoos and things got really messy when it turned out that they weren't just some regular dogoos" IF hummed suspiciously once more, glancing between Nepgear and Lindel repeatedly before Compa huffed and crossed her arms.

"Iffy! Your being very rude to Mister Lintworm! He's already making up for the things he's done in the past by helping Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge with work!" Compa pouted angrily, trying and failing to look intimidating and only succeeding in looking like a mildly upset puppy. IF sighed, shaking her head and raising her hands in defeat.

"Fine, fine. Sorry about that. But you can't fault me for being at least a little bit cautious with you after everything in the past" She addressed Lindel with a raised brow. He shook his head, getting over his fear momentarily.

"Wouldn't blame ya' for being like that honestly. We were real punks back then." Nepgear gave him a saddened look for reasons he couldn't comprehend and Compa did the same. While he was fairly certain why Nepgear was frowning at him Compa frowning at him on the other hand made him lapse back into fearful, terrified silence. Not that the petite nurse noticed anyway. Then Nepgear finally remembered why they were here when a bit of the gunk on her clothes slid off and splattered on the floor below.

"Oh! That's right, we came here to ask if we could borrow your shower Compa. Only for a bit, we'll get a change of clothes at the Basilicom. Is that okay?" Compa turned to Nepgear, a smile replacing her frown.

"Of course Ge-Ge! You know where it is. You can use it now if you want." Nepgear sighed in relief, smiling back at Compa with a nod before turning to Lindel.

"Mister Lindwell, would you like to use the shower first?" This was enough to snap him out of his fear again. He looked down at Nepgear, noticing that there were still bits and pieces of goop still stuck to her face that she couldn't wipe off, and remembered some of the more impure looks that she'd been given by some of the guys they'd passed without her notice. The thought made him feel angry for some reason, though he couldn't figure it out now so he'd filed that away for later. He shook his head.

"Nah, you go ahead and use it. Ladies first and all" Nepgear gave him a grateful smile and a thank you as she left, heading up a staircase and to the bathroom he assumed. This left him alone with two people he genuinely feared as much as he did CFW Magic.

Crap.

"So… how's life treating you?" IF said, trying to make small talk despite the awkward atmosphere that only they could detect. Compa either wasn't bothered or didn't feel it as she happily skipped off to grab some snacks from the kitchen. Lindel eased up, feeling less tense now that one of the sources of his fear was away for the moment.

"Pretty good all things considered, they've got us set up in a pretty nice place. Better than any of the other places we've lived at before that's for sure" IF nodded, staring at him for a long moment. He stared back, not really able to do much else.

"Your still scared of Compa after all that?" She asked in a deadpan tone, one eyebrow raised.

"She nearly strangled the life out of me" He answered back in a similarly deadpan tone instantly. IF smirked slightly.

"She was trying to heal you you know"

"I won't deny that she had good intentions but that adorably terrifying little nurse wrapped me up in so many bandages it felt like I was in an iron maiden made of gauze" IF laughed, both at the memory and at his misery. Lindel grumbled and took a seat on one of the chairs in the connected dining room, still in view of IF and careful not to drip or splatter any of the goop on the furniture, and crossed his arms in a huff. "Yeah go ahead. Laugh at my misery" IF's laughter teetered off and she wiped away a tear. She turned around in her seat to face Lindel.

"Sorry, it's just kind of hilarious for me every time I meet someone that Compa accidentally traumatized." Lindel raised an eyebrow at that.

"_Every_ time, as in more people have been traumatized by her aside from me?" IF nodded, looking all too smug as she leaned on one hand and spun her phone by its keychain ring with the other.

"Ohhhh yeah there have. I've got pictures of all their faces riiight here" She stopped spinning her phone caught it to wave it around next to her head. "Including yours" Lindel stared at her, she stared back, still looking smug. He sighed and leaned back as best as he could without ruining the chair he sat in with the goop.

"You're a sly one aren't you?" IF chuckled, slid her phone into its appropriately colored holster on her belt, and crossed her arms as she leaned back.

"Wouldn't have survived this long as an adventurer if I wasn't" With that said she slipped out a different phone and flipped it open to tap away at it as well. Lindel was about to make a jab at how she never seemed to let go of her phones when Compa walked in from the kitchen holding a tray. She walked over to them and began passing them small bowls of pudding with spoons in them.

"Here you go! Eat up! You two must be hungry after finishing that quest. Oh and here's your pudding Iffy" She passed Lindel a bowl that he had no choice but to accept as she immediately went to hand IF a bowl of her own. He looked at it suspiciously, half tempted to just dump it in one of the plants or the trashcan while she isn't looking out of fear of it being poisoned somehow. Before he could even begin to think of that though, as if reading his mind, IF gave him a look that promised murder should he try that. He gulped again, staring down at the admittedly delicious looking snack, and tried to come up with an excuse. He looked at the stairs leading to the second floor and felt a lightbulb flicker on in his head.

"I-I uh… gotta go to the… BATHROOM! Yes! The bathroom! Can I?" He put the bowl down on the table next to him as he got up. Compa smiled as she placed the tray on the coffee table.

"Of course! It's on the second floor, third door on the left" He uttered a quick thanks and as casually as he could without looking like he was running away in fear power walked up the stairs. IF was quietly giggling as she scooped up a spoonful of pudding. Before she put it in her mouth she stopped and turned to Compa.

"Hey Compa?"

"Yes Iffy?" IF turned to look at the stairs.

"Wasn't… Nepgear taking a shower up there?" The realization dawned on both of them. Compa gulped.

"Oh no"

Lindel walked down the left hallway as he reached the second floor, now feeling a little less terrified, and walked with a more casual pace. He realized that he really did need to use the bathroom as he was climbing up the stairs. 'Let's see. Third door on the left… ah, there it is' He reached for the door knob and only as he fully opened the door to reveal Nepgear coming out of the shower wrapped up in only a towel did he remember that she was there. "Oh…"

"Oh…"

They stood there, frozen for who knows how long. Then the situation they were in finally hit them and their faces erupted into furious blushes. Nepgear covered herself, shouting."KYAAAAA!"

Lindel smacked a hand over his eyes painfully, trying to look away but still seeing through small slits in his eyes the sight of Nepgear in nothing but a towel and fresh out of a shower. "Sh-Shit I'm sorry! I forgot that you were taking a shower up here and I didn't mean to-" He couldn't finish his sentence as suddenly he felt something hit his head. He caught the offending object with his free hand and saw that it was a small box of soap. Then he was hit with another, and another, then a laundry basket, and a towel, and a small chair, and whatever else that Nepgear could get her hands on and throw with her free hand as she shouted at him.

"G-go away and close the door! Pervert! Peeper! Creep!" Lindel covered himself from the assault with both hands now, running down the corridor while shouting apologies over his shoulder. Then he tripped, rolled, hit the corner and fell down the stairs, hitting every step along the way. He landed face first in a heap at the foot of the stairs, much to the surprise of Compa.

"Are… are you okay Mister Lintworm?" Lindel groaned from where he lay but didn't move to get up. IF just slipped one of her phones out of its holster, snapped a few pictures , wrote a message, and sent it off to someone. Then she slipped it back into its color appropriate holster, picked up her spoon and ate her pudding with a little chuckle.

* * *

_Meanwhile, at the Basilicom…_

"Thank you again Miss Linda for helping us out with some of the heavy lifting here" Histoire turned to give a polite bow of thanks to Linda as they exited the elevator. Linda just shrugged, feeling smug, and wiped her nose.

"Ahh its nothing big. It beats sitting around doing nothing back in our room" They entered the living room where Neptune was, once again, playing video games and eating snacks. She noticed them arriving and waved at them without looking away from her game.

"Oh hi Histy, Underling. Welcome back" She said half-heartedly, too focused on her game to talk more than that. Linda groaned in annoyance.

"Are you really still calling me that? I've got a name you know. It's Linda. LIN-DA" Neptune just waved a hand dismissively, shrugging and returning to her game.

"No no no no NO! Gaaaaah! Curse you and your unpredictable attack patterns! I'll beat you someday! I swear on it!" She threw her controller down on a cushion next to her and shook her fist angrily at the screen flashing her a "YOU DIED" in large red text. She sighed and was about to pick her controller up when she received a ping on her phone. With a curious hum she picked it up and unlocked it to see what she'd been sent. Linda and Histoire were confused and concerned respectively when Neptune snorted then burst out into laughter at whatever she saw.

"Neptune? What exactly are you looking at?" Histoire said as she and Linda got closer to her. Neptune was still laughing when she turned her phone around to show them what she'd seen. It was a picture of sent by WindWalkerofGamindustri on Chirper. It showed Lindel, still covered in bits and pieces of dogoo slime, comically laying face first on the ground with the rest of his body still haphazardly sprawled out on some stairs behind him. The caption for it read "Here lies yet another victim of misunderstanding. May he rest in peace". It was followed by a few pictures of a relatively pristine bowl of pudding with Lindel still in the background but slightly blurred out. The captions for this were "Food fit for the Goddesses". Histoire sighed, wondering what kind of string of events lead to this happening and how they'd explain themselves when they got back. Linda for her part was laughing alongside Neptune. Histoire turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

"Are you not concerned for your brother?" Linda's laughter teetered off and she wiped away a tear in her eye, still chuckling.

"'Course I am, it's just that shit kinda shit happens so often with my bro it's hilarious. And besides, he always walks these kinds of things off with nothing besides his pride damaged" Linda smiled slyly, remembering many times in the past when Lindel got himself into embarrassing situations. The smile on her face drew different reactions from Neptune and Histoire. For Neptune this meant promises of even more entertaining stories to hear. For Histoire this just made her even more concerned for the male Underling sibling. She grew even more concerned when Neptune threw an arm around Linda's shoulders and asked her about these past events. Then it grew even more when Linda returned the gesture with a sly smile still on her face. She just sighed, deciding to worry about it later and stared out the window.

"Well, at least these two are getting along now. Though I suppose it comes at the cost of Lindel's dignity..." She couldn't help herself though, as she listened in to Linda telling them a story about her brother, a broken washing machine, a half-drunk hostess and a runaway horsebird.


End file.
